Habitat Restoration

In this Section

The habitat restoration efforts at Todmorden Mills Wildflower Preserve are the core of our work.
The main restoration activities are:
habitat creation and plantings, invasive plant control and garbage control.

Simply designating the natural area at Todmorden Mills as a Wildflower Preserve
is not, in and of itself, sufficient to enable the area to rehabilitate back to
more original types of vegetation.
Natural succession, which will normally result in forests, has been
subverted in the city because the candidate pool of colonizing species
is largely composed of introduced plants and animals, many of them invasive.
We have had to intervene directly in the site to establish native plants.

Some of the first plantings by the group involved wildflowers which had been
rescued from deciduous forests north of the City which were destined for clearance to
make room for Highway 407.
These were planted in various forested locations, but especially the
area at the start of the Trail near the Don Train Station.
Since the White Trilliums do well here, it is known informally
as "Trillium Patch".

The first major project undertaken by TMWPC was the enlargement and enhancement
of a natural depression below the historic Helliwell House.
The margins of the created pond were then planted with natiuve species known to grow in
wetlands. Species included Blue-flag iris, sedges and rushes, and elderberry shrubs.
Other species of plants and animals have colonized naturally, including Muskrat, dragonflies
and Green frogs. Today, the pond is a popular stop on the trail, and it has provided
educational opportunities for visiting school groups.

Our largest project to date involved clearance and re-planting of the Oxbow
wetland margins, and the installation of a trail and boardwalks.
Completed in 2000, the 500-metre trail now affords visitors views of a variety of
habitats.

The Preserve has a number of serious invasive plants. These plants spread
rapidly in the Preserve, out-competing and displacing native plants and
eventually coming to dominate large areas. The most important invasive
plants in the Preserve are: Manitoba maple, Garlic mustard, Pale
Swallow-wort (also known as dog-strangling vine), Himalayan balsalm,
Common Reed and Japanese knotweed.

Garbage blows into the Preserve along the boundary with the Don Valley Parkway, it is
dumped in the parking lot by local contractors, and it is is dumped by residents
along Broadview Avenue and Chester Hill Road.
Each spring TMWPC in partnership with Friends of The Don East (FODE) has
a clean-up of the site. This typically yields several tonnes of garbage.
We have also initiated a survey of the garbage distribution in the Preserve as
a precursor to developing a management plan.